A federal judge sentenced a Pembroke Pines insurance broker to almost three years in prison and millions of dollars in restitution
for leading a scheme that fraudulently enrolled thousands of people—many of them homeless—in Affordable Care Act health insurance plans.
Dafud Iza, formerly vice president of Fiorella Insurance Agency, in Stuart, pleaded guilty in April to the scheme that paid low-income people $5 to $10 to sign up for ACA. Iza and co-conspi
rators gained commissions on the enrollments, but they knew that the would-be beneficiaries were not eligible and were unlikely to pay the federal health care plan’s premiums, prosecutors have said.
The plan defrauded the ACA program of $134 million.
Prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum that Iza could have faced more years in prison under federal sentencing guide
lines. But because he accepted responsibility, pleaded guilty and provided information about others involved, a 35-month sentence is appropriate, the U.S. Attorney’s office said. The judge agreed.
Two alleged accomplices, Cory Lloyd, the chief operating officer of t
he Fiorella agency, and Steven Strong, who managed the effort to recruit consumers for the scheme, were convicted in 2025 and are set to be sentenced in February.
Iza once held a property and casualty producer’s license, a temporary life insurance broker’s license and a health insurance li
cense, all of which were considered invalid by 2025, according to the Florida Department of Financial Services.
Justice, the former governor of West Virginia and a longtime coal mine company owner and operator, and his family controlled eight companies in Virginia and West Virginia that so
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ght coverage with LM Insurance Corp. through West Virginia’s assigned risk workers’ compensation plan, court filings show.
In 2021, LM canceled one set of policies due to nonpayment of pre
miums for what it collectively termed the Bluestone companies. An audit determined that the firms still owed almost $1.8 million in premiums, the LM complaint explained.
The employers paid $50,000 in early 2022. LM then asked the federal court in western Virginia for partial summary judgment, mandating that the Justice-family companies pay th
e remaining premiums owed. The Bluestone defendant companies did not oppose the motion. The judge, Michael Urbanski, agreed last week.
“Accordingly, it is ordered that judgment be entered for plaintiff LM Insurance Corporation in the amount of $1,023,732.88, jointly
and severally against defendants Bluestone Resources, Inc., Ranger Fuel Coal Corporation, Blackstone Energy Ltd., Bluestone Coke, LLC, Southeast Cotton, Inc., Bluestone Industries
, Inc., Justice Energy Company, Inc., and Kentucky Fuel Corporation,” the judge wrote.